Category Archives: Reviews

Upon arriving at our town’s new restaurant and take-away business, your humble vegie was pleasantly surprised to discover Paddy’s Waterholes politely caters for the non-meater and, so, promptly ordered their Zucchini Slice with salad. Which was delicious.

Due, in small part, to their good-sized mugs of soy coffee, I’ve returned quite a few times; the atmosphere is easy-going and congenial with our host-family welcoming, helpful and entertaining. “Good old-style home cooking” I heard someone say. So, putting that to the test (and taking a fairly serious one for the team!) rather than the vego sushi on offer that evening, and it being Sunday, i ordered Roast of the Day and matching desert – roast lamb and choccy pud. I was not disappointed. Every bite reminded me of..I was going to say my ever-hardening arteries and a small, small lamb but actually, it reminded me of grandmothers and summer and the temptation of freshly-made choccy batter “just sitting for a bit”. 5 Celeries!

Tim Entwisle (Gardening Australia: A Change of Seasons) suggests we adopt at least 5 seasons, such is the variability of the Australian climate from region to region. he speaks from Sydney to Jane Edmanson:

“There’s an early spring, which I call Sprinter – August and September, there’s a Sprummer which comes after that for 2 months – October and November. There’s a long summer which goes right from December through to March, a short autumn, a short winter – both just two months long and then you’re back at Sprinter.”

He explains what he means by Sprinter. “Spring in Australia, particularly in southern Australia, comes a bit earlier – it comes in about August. That’s really when we start to see things flowering. It’s the time of year we see change.”

“Sprummer is a season between Sprinter – this early spring – and summer, but it’s a changeable season. One of the interesting things with Sprummer is that it’s quite windy in lots of parts of Australia, you get hot weather and cold weather. It’s a really transition time between Sprinter and Summer.”